The Last of Us is the latest project from developer Naughty Dog (Uncharted, Jak and Daxter, Crash Bandicoot). The game was officially revealed at Spike TV's Video Game Awards on December 10, 2011 [1], though it had been teased and hinted at prior [2]. The Last of Us is set in a post-apocalyptic urban environment after a plague ravaged the globe. Nearly feral survivors kill each other for food, weapons, or whatever they can get their hands on. The game follows Joel, a hardened survivor, and Ellie, a teenage girl, in their journey across the US.

VGA 2012 Trailer

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When does The Last of Us take place?

The setting takes place 20 years after the plague hit. The year that the fungus hit Earth is currently unknown, but it may have begun to spread in our current time.

Where does The Last of Us take place?

Joel and Ellie meet in Boston. However, they are both on the run from the military as they make their way across the United States. Many of the areas may take place in cities, or widely known areas. The gameplay trailer shown at E3 2012 shows the Fort Duquesne bridge, located in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. This confirms Pittsburgh as one of the playable cities in the game.

What's up with this plague?

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There is a real fungus called Cordyceps that can infect insects. After infection, insects climb to a certain height and are killed. Shortly thereafter, infectious spores pour from its carcass to spread to other living insects and deliver a similar fate. One of Naughty Dog's teasers was a clip from BBC's Planet Earth showing this happen to an ant.

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In The Last of Us, this same fungus has mutated to be able to infect humans. Infected humans die shortly and become reanimated, driven by feral bloodlust and the natural instinct to survive by propagating -- like zombies. The contagion is airborne, but is diffused most effectively within confined spaces.

The infected exhibit some degree of intelligence and are surprisingly quick considering their decayed muscles.

Is there multiplayer in The Last of Us?

Yup. Creative Director, Neil Druckmann, mentioned it at E3 2012 but offered zero details except that it will be very unique. Jerk.

How is The Last of Us related to Uncharted?

Taking a look at the demo, you can tell that The Last of Us uses the same game engine as Uncharted 3. Naughty Dog is using the same process it uses for capturing the performances in the Uncharted franchise. Troy Baker (Joel) and Ashley Johnson (Ellie) will be playing out the scenes. Voice and motion capture are both done at the same time in order to get naturalistic performances. Just like Uncharted, all the facial animations will be done by hand.